


The Glory of a Sudden View

by withthepilot



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-31
Updated: 2010-12-31
Packaged: 2017-10-14 06:22:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/146316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/withthepilot/pseuds/withthepilot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If dumb luck got them here, then McCoy's grateful for dumb luck.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Glory of a Sudden View

A parade. They throw the crew a _parade_ , of all ri-damn-diculous things. McCoy doesn't want any fuss at all, let alone a veritable dog and pony show, complete with floats, balloons, and screaming idiots everywhere. It's disrespectful to all the brave souls who died out there in the black, that's what it is. Not to mention a colossal waste of time. Every last one of their crew is bone tired, ready to go home and pair a mug of tea with a good cry.

Jim, though...well, Jim pretends not to like it. He looks around at the festivities as they prepare to march and scoffs loudly, but the glimmer in his eyes gives him away. The one that says, _For me? Really? You mean it?_

McCoy is determined to be at least a little sour. He keeps close to Jim's side and nods to all the fawning well-wishers who line the procession path on both sides. Ahead of them, Spock walks ramrod straight, flanked by Uhura and Chapel. A real ladies man. Another few feet away are Sulu, Chekov, and Scotty. The little green guy jogs alongside Scotty, trying to keep up with his short legs. McCoy squints at the multitude of signs, scrawled with mash notes and platitudes, everything from _Welcome Home, Heroes_ to _Marry Me, Captain Kirk!_

"Can't believe the Federation would subject us to this kind of self-serving spectacle," he grumbles. Jim glances over and shrugs.

"They're just listening to public demand, Bones. Going with the flow. Plus, it's good promotion for them. They could use the recruits."

"Yeah, what's the tagline? 'Risk your fool neck; be a hero'?"

"The operative word being 'hero,'" Jim says, nodding.

Some heroes, McCoy thinks, rolling his eyes. As far as he's concerned, the whole ordeal was one lucky break after another. It culminated in the core ejection gamble, preceded by Spock's good fortune in getting on that futuristic, flying death trap. Jim getting back on the bigger death trap after he'd been marooned on a planet still suffering through its ice age. His run-in with the older Spock. Chekov's ability to snatch Jim and Sulu out of thin air. Sulu's little hiccup in getting them to Vulcan as fast as the other ships. Their "victory" boiled down to nothing more than a bunch of instances in which so-called geniuses stepped into dumb luck. And to think, for all that, he might have never gotten the chance to see his little girl again. Hell, if just one of those things went wrong...

McCoy looks up when he feels Jim nudge his side. Jim points at a sign that reads, in perfect, bubbly handwriting, _Thank You, Doctor McCoy_.

"Why they gotta single me out?" he mutters.

"They've got a point," Jim says.

And just like that, when McCoy looks over at Jim's upturned face, he can see it—that Earth was spared from destruction after a fortunate chain of events, all beginning with the moment when he, Leonard McCoy, went out of his way to get Jim Kirk on the _Enterprise_. If he hadn't done that, McCoy thinks, well...he'd be dead, for sure. Along with all of their friends. Jim would have perished at Nero's hands back on Earth, left behind as a useless, sitting duck. And the thought of Jim succumbing like that, dying without being allowed to live up to his potential, is enough to send a sharp shudder through McCoy's entire body.

He stops short in his tracks, in the middle of the entire procession, and stares at Jim. He looks deep into the kid's eyes and sees both of their futures.

"Bones?" Jim asks, eyebrows raised. "You okay?"

McCoy answers with a possessive hand on the back of Jim's neck, drawing him in for a deep kiss. It feels like signing an important document, sealing a deal. It's a kiss that says he'll follow this kid anywhere, not to mention drag him along for the ride, whenever he has to. It's a promise—here, amidst a throng of cheering, ecstatic people, the air around them thick with gratitude, worship, and renewed hope.

When McCoy finally draws back, the first thing he sees are Jim's sky-blue eyes peering up at him in wonder, Jim's tongue peeking out thoughtfully between his lips to chase after the taste of their kiss.

"And you say you don't like spectacle," Jim teases.

For all the surrounding hoopla, when Jim smiles, McCoy swears it's like there's no one else around for miles. He lets go of Jim's neck and takes his hand.


End file.
